Complicated
by CarelessCookieLover
Summary: When the others realize that the new girl, Lydia, has a reason for her ignoring them, it dawns on them that not everybody's lives are so complicated. Tyler/OC and Johnny/Kitty
1. Chapter 1

It had been two days since Lydia had arrived at Elm Tree House. She hadn't really spoken to anybody but Kitty, since they had arrived together. Everyone was in the living room, discussing this.

"I'm glad Kitty is fine about people touching her and everything, but why is she the only one Lydia talks to?" Lily asked.

"She probably only feels comfortable around Kitty, that's why." Carmen said.

"Well, we have to make her comfortable around us too, right?" Tee said.

"Yeah, but how?" Johnny asked.

Kitty entered the room at this exact moment. "Oh, sorry…did I interrupt?" she asked.

Johnny seemed to go slightly pink and he shrugged, letting his blush fade before he spoke. "No, you didn't."

"Actually, Kitty…" Rick began.

"We could use your help." Tee finished.

Kitty sat down beside Carmen and tilted her head curiously. "How come?"

"Well, you know how Lydia only talks to you?" Johnny said.

"Well, we want to make her more comfortable around us." Lily said.

"Let her know that we want to be friends." Jody added.

"Will you help us do that?" Carmen asked.

Kitty nodded. "Sure, I'd love to help you." She agreed. "She did explain to me that she's a little…nervous to speak to you."

"How come?" Carmen asked.

Kitty shrugged. "I asked her why, but she didn't tell me."

"Could be private." Rick said.

"Probably is something to do with her past." Frank said.

The others began to plan, but what they didn't realize was, Lydia was heading towards the living room.

As soon as Kitty saw her, she shouted over the noise. "Hi Lydia!"

Everyone stopped talking and looked up at her.

Lydia smiled shyly, tucking her brown hair behind her ears as she surveyed everyone with her blue eyes. "I didn't mean to interrupt. Sorry." She said, and before the others could protest, she disappeared into the kitchen.

"That was close." Lily whispered.

"Someone might have to distract her." Kitty said.

All eyes swiveled to Tyler.

"Why me?" he moaned.

"Because you're best at it." Carmen said.

"Ugh. Fine." Tyler said, getting up and leaving towards the kitchen, while everyone else discussed the plan.

"Uh, um, hi Lydia." Tyler said, as he caught her rummaging in the cupboards.

Lydia looked towards him, and surprised both Tyler and herself. "Hi, Tyler." She said.

"You spoke to me!" Tyler said, surprised.

"Y-yeah…I did." Lydia said, blushing a little and going back to raiding the cupboards. She pulled out two chocolate bars and threw one to Tyler.

"This is my favorite type! Thanks." Tyler said.

"I knew it was your favorite." Lydia said quietly.

"Huh?" Tyler blinked.

"I mean, um, you're welcome." Lydia said, her cheeks turning red once more.

"Hey…Lydia?" he asked.

"Hmm?"

"Why don't you like the others?" Tyler asked her, as they both began to eat the chocolate.

"I do like them. They seem nice. It's just…" Lydia sighed and trailed off. "It doesn't matter. It's just something that happened to me." Lydia said.

"You could try talking to them, you know, they're really nice people." Tyler told her.

"I will try at some point, just…I need some time to get over what happened to me. Trust me, one day, you'll all find out and maybe then you'll understand." And with those words said, Lydia headed out into the garden, leaving Tyler somewhat speechless.

He made sure she was sitting on the swing tied to the garden tree before he rushed back upstairs to the living room. Tyler told them what happened, before they all shrugged it off and went back to planning. After all, they wanted to make Lydia as happy here as they possibly could.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day, the kids put their plan into action. Tyler walked up to Lydia as soon as she came downstairs.

"Hey, Lydia. We're all in the living room watching TV, and Kitty really needs to tell you something, so…will you come?" Tyler asked.

"Yeah, okay." Lydia said, walking towards the living room. Tyler followed, grinning to himself. It was starting to work. "Hey, where's Kitty?" she asked the nearest person to her. Carmen.

"Oh, she went to get some food, but she wanted you to wait here till she gets back." Carmen said.

"Okay." Lydia agreed, sitting gingerly on the sofa next to Carmen.

Rick came rushing in. "Tyler, I'm gonna kill you!" he said. He wasn't really angry, it was all part of the plan.

"What did I do?!" Tyler asked, seeming confused.

"You wrecked my new speakers!" Rick shouted, and he went to hit him.

"Stop!" Lydia jumped up. "How do you know it was him?" she asked, walking over to Rick and crossing her arms.

"I…well…" Rick sighed. "I guessed."

"Rick, that's well mean, you can't just guess things like that." Lily said.

"What if they broke by themselves? You can't be sure." Lydia said.

"It was you, wasn't it Carmen?!" Rick rounded on the girl in the pink.

Lydia pushed him slightly, causing him to stumble slightly. "Just stop assuming things! If it means that much to you, I'll buy you new speakers." She said in irritation.

Everyone suddenly broke into a smile. "Just kidding!" they said, laughing, and Kitty came out from behind the shelves.

"Wait, what's going on?" Lydia said, confused.

"Well, you see…we wanted you to know that we want to be friends, so we planned this out." Tyler explained.

"So you lied to me?" Lydia said, her expression hardening.

"We're sorry, Lydia." Carmen said.

"Well if you knew anything about me at all, which even you," she looked at Kitty "Don't, you'd realize that lying to me isn't a good way to try and get me to be friends." Lydia headed towards the door.

"Lydia, please!" Tyler called. "We just wanted to be friends so that your time at Elm Tree wasn't so bad."

Lydia paused. Then she sighed, turning back to look at them all. "I forgive you. I'm sorry for overreacting." She said.

"So…" Lily began.

"Friends?" Carmen asked, smiling sweetly.

Lydia pretended to think, before grinning. "Friends." She agreed, and she sat on the sofa to watch TV with everyone.

(A few hours later)

Everyone was eating dinner. Faith was in charge because Mike and Gina were out, so she'd just cooked them macaroni with cheese. Everyone was enjoying it, until as soon as they began to clear the plates away, the electricity went off.

"Don't panic, here's a torch for everyone." Faith said, handing out torches. "Must be the storm."

"When will Mike and Gina be back?" Harry asked.

"Don't worry, Harry, everything will be fine." Faith said, hugging the younger boy.

"Wait, guys." Carmen said, flashing her torch around. "Where's Lydia?"

Tyler frowned. "She was here a second ago, when Faith was giving out the torches."

"Maybe she's in her room." Lily suggested, so everyone went to look.

However, she wasn't there. However, Kitty noticed Lydia's favorite shoes and jacket were gone.

"Her favorite jacket and shoes…they're both gone." She told everyone. "Plus Lydia's phone."

"Where could she have possibly gone?" Johnny asked.

"Do you have her number?" Tyler asked Kitty.

"Yeah." Kitty said, getting out her phone. "But there's no signal." She groaned.

Everyone checked their phones, and nobody had signal.

"Come on, we'll have to search the house." Faith said. "I'll go with Harry and Tee, Johnny go with Kitty, Carmen go with Tyler and Elektra, and Gus go with Lily."

And with those orders, the groups went off to search the house.

Where was Lydia?


	3. Chapter 3

"So where could she be?" Carmen asked as she, Tyler and Elektra looked around the kitchen.

"Maybe she was abducted." Elektra said.

"Don't be stupid." Tyler said. "Maybe she got scared?"

"But you said yourself she had been given a torch." Carmen pointed out.

As she said this, though, she heard a crack as Elektra stepped on something. Elektra removed her foot and Tyler bent down, shining his torch on the item.

It was another torch.

"Oh my…" Carmen said.

"We need to find her…what if she's scared of the dark?" Elektra said.

The three began to walk quickly, bringing the broken torch with them.

Meanwhile, Lily and Gus were checking the living room.

"Gus, did you see where Lydia went?" Lily asked.

"No. I saw Faith giving out the torches and Lydia shifted slightly, but then I got distracted by Faith giving me a torch. Then Carmen asked where Lydia was, and after that…"

"Okay Gus, thanks, I get it. Hey…I couldn't see Rick either, you know…" Lily said suddenly.

"Rick is at guitar practice and he's coming back at 9:30." Gus checked his watch. "It's 9:15."

Lily suddenly let out a small gasp. "Gus look." She pointed at something on the ground. Gus examined it.

"It's Lydia's hairclip. I didn't see her take it out, so she must have been in here." Gus said, picking it up and putting it in his pocket. "We should show Faith."

Meanwhile, Faith, Tee and Harry were checking the bedrooms.

"Poor Lydia, she must be frightened." Harry said with a frown.

"I'm sure she's fine, Harry." Tee said.

"That's what Jody would have said." Harry said.

"Do you miss her?" Tee asked. Jody had been fostered yesterday.

Harry nodded.

"Guys, look. It's Lydia's necklace." Faith said, holding it up then putting it in her pocket. "Let's see what the others have found." Then the three headed off.

Kitty and Johnny were in the office.

"The only way we can find out if she's afraid of the dark or not is by looking in her file." Kitty said.

"I've got the keys here." Johnny said.

Kitty opened the file drawer and found Lydia's file. She opened it and began to read. Her eyes widened, and when Johnny read over Kitty's shoulder, his mouth fell open.

"Oh." Kitty said.

"We should tell the others." Johnny said.

Kitty nodded and put the file back, locking the drawer again before heading out with Johnny.

Finally, all the groups met up.

"We found a broken torch." Elektra said, holding it out.

"We found Lydia's necklace." Tee said.

"We found her hairclip." Lily said, giving it to Faith.

"Uh, guys?" Johnny said.

"What is it?" Faith asked.

"We were looking in her file, just to see if she was afraid of the dark, because it might be easier to find her if we knew." Kitty said.

"And what did you see?" Carmen asked.

"Lydia's parents…they left her alone in the house when there was a powercut. Some guy broke in and Lydia had to hide from him. Her parents' bodies were found the next day, and they had been murdered by the same guy that had broken into the house. Then, her sister left her in the same house, in the dark again, and Lydia lost her torch, and had to sleep on the stairs. The same guy broke in again and almost killed her, but her sister saved her, killing herself in the progress." Kitty said. "So she's not just afraid of the dark…she's petrified."

Everyone stood there, stunned.

"There's only one place we haven't looked." Faith said.

Tyler had already disappeared. He shone his torch around in the laundry room and there she was, curled up in the corner.

"I'm so sorry about your family, Lydia." He said, kneeling in front of her.

Lydia had a tear-streaked face and sorrowful eyes. As he kneeled in front of her, she leaned over and hugged him. "Thank you for finding me."


	4. Chapter 4

"Why did you look in my file?" Lydia asked Kitty.

"I'm sorry. We just wanted to know if you were scared of the dark." Kitty said.

"Well…okay." She said. "At least the file doesn't say everything." She muttered.

"What? It doesn't?" Tyler looked shocked. "So there's more to it than what the file says?"

"Yeah." Lydia said shortly. "It's too complicated to go into the files, and plus none of the social workers or care workers know what else happened."

"What…did happen?" Lily asked.

"I'm not telling anybody until I feel like I have to." Lydia said, before she went back to watching TV with Tyler.

Kitty and Johnny looked at each other, then back at the TV guiltily. If they hadn't told everyone, then maybe Lydia would have not seemed…well, annoyed. She didn't seem very annoyed, just a little bit.

As Lydia went to walk back to her room, Kitty ran to catch up with her. "Lydia, I'm sorry. I've blown the trust between us, I get it, but I just want you to know we weren't trying to do it to learn about your past. We were all worried about you, and…"

"It's okay, Kitty, there isn't anything I don't want anybody to see in there." Lydia said calmly, giving Kitty a hug. "I'm not mad, honestly." She said, before heading up to her room. "I just need time to think. The past will always catch up with me, after all."

Kitty nodded and headed back to the living room. "Well, she's not mad at us at least."

"That's always good." Johnny agreed, nodding.

"But…she seemed distant. She said something about having to think because the past will always catch up with her." Kitty said.

Everyone frowned. Tyler shrugged.

"She probably means that when we explained to her about her file…she remembered her past and now it's all catching up with her, including the bits she didn't tell anybody." He said.

"You're probably right, but…I'm kind of worried about her." Carmen said.

"Same here." Kitty agreed.

"Do you think anybody would be able to talk to her?" Johnny asked.

Everyone looked at Tyler.

"Okay." He said, before getting up and leaving the room. He walked upstairs and knocked on Lydia's door.

"Did Kitty send you up?" Lydia asked as he shut the door and sat on her bed.

"Kitty, Carmen, and everyone else. They're dead worried, Lyd." Tyler said.

At the nickname, Lydia blushed. "And what about you?"

"Of course I'm worried! But, you'll tell us in your own time right?" Tyler said calmly.

"Of course. I'm just…a little scared of what everybody is going to think." Lydia said. "The file…not all of what they wrote is actually true. They told me to tell them in my own words and I told them something so that they wouldn't get the police involved." She whispered.

Tyler nodded slowly. "Well, if it was that bad then…I would have done the same thing. It's not bad, lying to them, but at some point you might have to face them."

"I know that, too. I'm just not ready." Lydia said.

"Well…when you are…let me know. I'll go with you, as well as Kitty and Carmen. We all care about you, Lydia, and when you need to face something big, we'll always be there by your side to help you."

"You mean it?" Lydia said.

"Of course I do." Tyler said.

As he got up to leave, Lydia jumped to her feet, grabbed him by his shoulders and spun him around. "Hey, Tyler?"

"Hmm?"

"Who was your first kiss?" Lydia asked.

Tyler's heart began to beat slightly faster. "I um, I haven't had one."

"Me either." Lydia said.

"Why do you ask?" Tyler tilted his head, and was surprised when Lydia kissed him.

She pulled away after about 10 seconds, and Tyler opened his eyes, shocked.

"That's why." She said calmly, before opening the door. Tyler walked out and she closed the door behind him, both of them stunned and yet kind of…happy.


	5. Chapter 5

"She kissed you?!" Rick said.

"Yeah, I was…shocked to say the least." Tyler said.

They were both in Rick's room, and Tyler was explaining what had happened with Lydia last night.

"Well that's intense." Rick said.

"I know…and it was somewhat awkward this morning…she avoided my gaze for most of it and she wouldn't talk to me properly." He said.

"When you were up with Lydia, Kitty and Johnny kissed too…Elektra kinda pushed their heads together…" Rick said.

"_Kiss Kitty, then." Elektra said._

"_What?" Johnny blushed._

"_I dare you." Elektra added._

"_Elektra, don't go too far." Kitty warned._

_Elektra grabbed their heads and shoved them together, causing Kitty's lips and Johnny's to meet in a kiss._

"They're going out now." Rick said.

"Wow. I sort of figured those two would get together at some point, I just didn't think it would be so soon, you know?" Tyler said.

"No kidding." Rick said, nodding.

"So who do you like then, rick? Everybody else has a crush so you must have one." Tyler asked.

"Well, ah, I…do kind of like this one girl." Rick admitted.

"Oooh, and who is she?" Tyler asked, grinning.

"Well…um…" Rick suddenly blushed a dark shade of red.

"It's not Carmen is it?" Tyler said suddenly.

"God no! Anyway, Carmen likes one of the other boys at school." Rick said. "She's like my sister."

"Then…" Tyler suddenly grinned. "It's Elektra, isn't it?"

It was sort of a joke at first, since Tyler couldn't think of any other girl. But the grin on his face faded when he saw Rick's blush turn an even darker shade of red if that was humanly possible.

"Oh my God." Tyler said, and his face cracked into a grin again as he began to laugh hysterically. "Elektra? Really?!" he began to roll on the bed laughing. It was just so unexpected for his best friend/brother-like figure to fall in love with such a rebel/snake like Elektra.

Rick thumped him but Tyler didn't care; his laughter was making him choke anyhow.

"Shut it, Tyler. You like Lydia!" Rick said defensively.

"Yeah, at least Lydia isn't a snake like Elektra. Lydia is somewhat normal, but Elektra…she's got problems. How could you ever like somebody like that?"

"I don't know, I guess I just kind of like all that stuff about her, for me it's hard not to like her if that makes any sense." Rick said.

"It doesn't really, but I can sort of see what you're trying to say, yeah. So what are you going to do about this little crush then? Are you going to tell Elektra or keep it to yourself like you have been doing?"

Rick shrugged his shoulders, biting his lip in thought. "I dunno…I'd kind of like to know what she feels first before I say anything to her. Please don't tell anybody, Tyler, or she'll find out quicker than you can say Dumping Ground."

"As long as you don't tell anybody about Lydia, I won't tell anybody about Elektra." Tyler said. "Call it keeping each other's secrets."

"Fine, fine, it's a deal. I promise." Rick said.

"Then I promise, too. Now, shall we go watch that football match that's on? I bet you anything Liverpool is gonna win." Tyler grinned.

"Oh, you wish, Tyler." Rick said, before the two jumped up and ran downstairs to watch the football match.

Elektra stepped out of her hiding place, her eyes wide, staring after Rick and Tyler as if she'd just seen a ghost. Stunned, she ran downstairs after them and paused outside the living room. She could hear them cheering and she wondered what to say to Rick.

Yes, she liked him back, and it was hard not to, but hearing him actually say he had a crush on her came as a complete shock to Elektra; it just hadn't seemed possible for Rick Barber, perfect, good-looking and kind hearted, to actually like a cruel, mean and distant girl like Elektra.

Maybe opposites do attract, Elektra thought as she stepped into the living room.

"Rick, can we talk?" she asked calmly.

Rick looked up. "Sure." He agreed.

As he approached her, Elektra took a deep breath in. "The thing is…"


	6. Chapter 6

But before Elektra could say anything Lydia came running downstairs. "Elektra, Elektra!" she said, panting as she skidded to a stop beside her.

"Lydia? You okay?" Elektra asked, turning to her.

"Your room…it's trashed!" Lydia said.

"WHAT?!" Elektra said, and she went running upstairs.

"So then," Rick said, just as Lydia turned away.

"What's up?" she asked, turning to face him again.

Rick smirked. "You kissed Tyler."

"She did what?!" Kitty and Johnny appeared behind Rick.

"No way!" Jody said. "I've gotta go tell Elektra and the others!"she said, running off.

Lydia's eyes widened, and then she stepped forward, looking furious. "You." She hissed, and her hand reached up and slapped Rick's face.

He reeled back, clutching his cheek. He rubbed it sheepishly, looking guilty.

Lydia stormed upstairs, pushing past Jody as she went. She was headed towards Rick's room.

"What happened?!" Elektra asked, following Lydia.

"He told everyone, _everyone!" _Lydia began throwing Rick's things around, trashing his room.

"What did he tell everyone, tell me!" Elektra said, attempting to grab Lydia's arms.

But Lydia was furious; her eyes were flaming, her fists were clenched as she worked her way around Rick's room, breaking anything and everything she could find.

"WHOA, WHOA, WHOA, LYDIA!" Elektra grabbed the girl's arms and yanked her back.

"LET GO!" Lydia shouted. "HE TOLD EVERYONE, THIS IS MY REVENGE!"

Rick entered his room and looked shocked and angry. He lunged at Lydia and pushed her. Lydia punched him square in the face, causing his nose to start bleeding.

"Come here!" he shouted, and grabbed hold of her, starting to push her and hit her. They were fighting, slapping and pushing and punching.

"How dare you tell everybody!" Lydia shrieked, throwing a book at him.

"How could you trash my room?! I didn't mean to tell everyone, I was just going to ask you about it!"

"Hey, hey, hey, HEY!" Mike said, and with the help of Gina, he pushed the two apart.

Tyler entered the room and saw the mess, and it made his eyes widen. He studied Rick and Lydia; she had a purple eye and a bleeding lip. He had a bleeding nose and his eye was purple too.

Mike and Gina cleaned the two of them up.

"What in the WORLD were you thinking?!" Mike demanded, wiping the blood from Lydia's lip furiously.

"He told everyone a huge secret!" Lydia protested.

"You didn't have to trash my room, it was an accident!" Rick shot back.

"Yeah yeah, whatever!" Lydia snapped.

"The two of you, that's enough! I'm docking 20 pounds of both your allowances, and giving it to charity!" Mike said.

"What?!" Rick gasped. "That's not fair! He started it!" Lydia argued.

"Well, you should of thought of that before you started fighting." Gina said, taking the medical stuff to deal with Rick's nose.

Lydia got up and walked out of the kitchen.

"Hey Lydia, is it true you kissed Tyler?" Lily asked.

Lydia pushed past her and ran upstairs.

"Nicely done, Lily!" Carmen said sarcastically, and she went upstairs after Lydia.

When Carmen entered her room, Lydia looked up at her, but said nothing. Carmen closed the door behind her and sat on the floor next to Lydia.

"It doesn't matter you know." She said quietly.

"Yes it does, Carmen. Now I'm not going to be able to move without people teasing me." Lydia said.

"Well, the feelings are completely natural." Carmen replied.

"How could you tell?" Lydia asked.

"Well, even if you hadn't kissed him, it was obvious. Tyler is almost always the only one you talk to about stuff." Carmen pointed out.

"I don't know how he feels, though, that's what's bothering me." Lydia said.

"Do you want me to try and sort things out for you?" Carmen asked.

"If you think you can…yeah." Lydia said.

"Consider it done." Carmen got up to leave.

"Hey, Carmen?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you. You're a great friend." Lydia said.

"Anytime." Carmen said, smiling, then she exited the room and walked downstairs to find Tyler.


	7. Chapter 7

"Hey Tyler." Carmen said, sitting beside him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, course. What's up?" Tyler asked.

"Well, uh, you know what Rick said about you and Lydia?" Carmen said.

"Yeah. What about it?"

"Well, um, I was wondering if you...like her. As in…like like." She said.

Tyler fidgeted a little. "Well, uh, erm, I ahem…yes." He blushed deeply.

Carmen smiled. "That's cute." She said, patting his shoulder.

"But what if she doesn't like _me?" _Tyler said worriedly.

"Of course she does! She was worried that you wouldn't like her. You're sweet, funny and cute so, girls are attracted to that stuff. I would be, except you're not my type, I'm afraid." Carmen chuckled.

"Yeah, Johnny's more your type." Tyler teased.

"Shut up." Carmen laughed. "So…what are you going to do about Lydia?" she asked.

"Well…I feel like I should talk to her, but I feel kind of nervous…is that dumb?" Tyler asked nervously.

"Not at all! It's rather sweet, actually, for _you _to be nervous over a girl. Seriously though." Carmen laughed when Tyler poked her.

"It's different for you to get nervous over boys, as well." Tyler said defensively.

"I try not to, but it just sort of happens." Carmen shrugged.

"Same." He agreed.

"It sucks, huh?" she said.

"No question." He replied, and they both laughed.

"Okay, so…go on. Go speak to her." Carmen said, poking him a little.

"Fine, fine." Tyler said, and he rushed off upstairs. He stopped outside Lydia's room, rehearsing in his head what he was going to say. He hovered there uncertainly, unsure whether to just run off or to knock. He knocked in the end, then went in. "Lydia, h-hi." He said. He was blushing already.

"Hiya Tyler. Did Carmen send you?" asked Lydia.

"Kind of." Tyler admitted. "But…I also wanted to come." He sat beside her. "Listen, ever since you kissed me, I realized something about myself that I never knew before that moment. So, I'm kind of thankful that you did what you did."

"But…?"

"I'm also kind of afraid. NO girl, and I mean NO girl, has ever managed to make me feel the way you've made me feel. I'm _scared _Lydia, and I need you to tell me why." Tyler said.

"I…I don't know." Lydia said. "It's not just you though, look what you've done to _me! _It's like I'm a completely different person, and…my stomach, my heart, when I'm around you…what the fuck have you done?!" she said, half laughing.

"I like you, Lydia." Tyler admitted.

"I…I like you, too." Lydia said with a smile.

"So…will you be my girlfriend?" he asked.

"I…I can't think of anything I'd like more." Lydia said. "Yes, Tyler, I will be your girlfriend." She gave him a hug and then a quick peck on the lips.

"Thank God, I was so nervous that you'd say no, do you have any idea how long I was outside your bedroom rehearsing my words?" Tyler said, grinning.

"No, but I can guess." Lydia said with a laugh, and the two headed downstairs together, hand in hand with a smile on their faces.


End file.
